Great story! I could actually visualize it because we lived near Walden Pond for a few years and enjoyed swimming, paddle-boarding and walking the trail around it.

100% agree with the rest of your comment, as well. My husband and I run a microschool that offers a completely different learning model than the public system, where we provide an environment of (among many other things) minimal adult interaction, allowing the learners to fail often, cheaply and safely, which helps foster their resilience. It's amazing how capable kids are when adults DON'T interfere!